USDA Grants $22 Million More To Fund Citrus Greening Fight

The USDA has announced the availability of $22 million in grants to help citrus growers fight citrus greening.

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This funding is available through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) Citrus Disease Research and Extension Program (CDRE), which was authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill and is administered by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).

USDA has invested more than $380 million to address citrus greening between fiscal years 2009 and 2015, including $43.6 million through the SCRI CDRE program since 2015.

“This is good news for my citrus producers down in Florida and I want to especially thank Secretary Vilsack for his consistent leadership on the issue,” Florida Congressman Tom Rooney said. “The industry has been endangered for a long time and every little bit helps. I’m thankful to the USDA and I’m confident that growers will make good use of this money, to continue to help keep the American citrus industry alive.”

Last year, the University of Florida and Washington State University received NIFA support for research on growing the putative pathogenic bacterium in artificial culture, which will greatly facilitate research efforts to manage HLB.

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Another project at the University of Florida will develop bactericides to reduce or eliminate pathogen populations in citrus trees, with the goal of recovering fruit production in orchards affected with HLB.

Research at the University of California will use virulence proteins from the pathogen to detect its presence before symptoms appear and to develop strategies for creating citrus rootstocks that are immune to HLB. Information about all of the projects funded to date can be found online.

NIFA will give priority to CDRE grants projects that are multistate, multi-institutional, or trans-disciplinary, and include clearly defined ways to communicate results to producers. Successful applicants will be expected to engage stakeholders to ensure solutions are commercially feasible.

Projects also should include an economic analysis of the costs associated with proposed solutions. Based on consultation with the Citrus Disease Sub-committee of the National Agricultural Research, Education, Extension and Economics Advisory Board, only applications that deal with the HLB or its management will be considered.

Pre-applications that include a Stakeholder Relevance Statement are due on May 16.

Applicants who are invited to submit full applications based on an industry relevancy review of the pre-applications will be required to submit full applications by Aug. 18.

See request for applications information on the NIFA website.

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